No More Learning

The dimensions of his thinking and creation were in accord with
his personality. His life was practically a restless process of contin-
uation which gave to every one of his statements a touch of religious
initiation, of clear apocalyptic growth.
Weininger's works are known to you. His book Taschenbuch
appeared at the end of the war. This book (with some letters) was
for a long time in Dr. Arthur Gerber's possession, and he gave me
this book in 1919. The book was deciphered by our mutual efforts.
It mainly contained notes of personal and weltanschavlicher nature,
which throw light chiefly upon his last days.
Allow me to mention that I have already published a book, Die
Erweckung (Berlin, Ernst Hofmann), in which I wrote a quite
extensive chapter about my experiences with Otto Weininger. I
regret to say that I do not have a copy. I would, of course, have sent
it to you if I had.
I greet you with sincerity, and I would be happy to meet you in
person.
Sincerely yours,
OSKAR EWALD
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? 204 Appendix
LETTER VI
Budapest
August 27, 1938
Dear Dr. Abrahamsen:
I beg your forgiveness for not having answered sooner--
(1) The next time I will send you a good photograph of Otto.
(2) 1 have a photograph which has never before been published.
(3) I had the good fortune to live with my brother. I was five
years younger than he.
(4) Otto's musical disposition: We had a glorious father. When
Otto was six yean old my father took him to hear FTeischutz, and
when he was eight my father took him to hear Meistersinger.
(5) Otto was talented in philology and my father wanted him to
go into the Consular Academy. My mother was a fine, good, simple
woman, housewife and mother. My father was austere in his dis-
cipline, divine in his goodness . . . personality. He was rigid in his
criticism. His marriage to my mother was not very successful; he
always meant to do his best, as she did also, but he made enormous
demands upon his wife and children.
(6) We are not descendants of Cellini. My father was Jewish, as
was my mother. My father was highly anti-Semitic, but he thought
as a Jew and was angry when Otto wrote against Judaism.
Do you know what was written on Otto's tomb? If not, I will
tell you. I do not believe that Freud read Otto's manuscript. To my
knowledge Otto did not know him personally.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Weininger
<<
LETTER VII
Florianigasse 13
Vienna
September 10, 1938
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
My remark about Benevenuto Cellini's family was not meant in
the sense that there was a real family relationship between Leopold
Weininger and Cellini--there can, of course, be no question of that.
I meant that the goldsmith's art, which is closely connected with
the name of Cellini, slowly vanished and that Leopold Weininger
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? Appendix 205
was one of the last--in Austria perhaps the last--masters of this
noble art.
Of course, I am very interested in seeing the comparison of these
two. Your work is important to me, and even though I am not
able to understand it very well, I would be grateful if you would
send me a copy of your book. You can, of course, use my letters as
you wish.
Hearty greetings. I would be happy to make your personal ac-
quaintance. In appreciation and with cordial sympathy,
Yours,
Emil Lucka
LETTER VIII
December 30, 1938
Vienna VIII, 13 Florianigasse
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
With regard to Otto Weininger, he was not epileptic or insane
or schizophrenic. His many friends would have noticed it. Professor
Hermann Swoboda at the University of Vienna, who was a friend
of his, was of the opinion that Otto Weininger had signs of hysteria.
I cannot judge of that, but I have no doubt that he was mentally
normal. I knew his father quite well. He was a kind man and a very
gifted artist (or, as he called himself, a craftsman) who created
works in enamel, metal, glass, bronze, etc. This very last art, which
was much practiced during the time of the Renaissance, appears to
have died with him. He was famous in all Europe, and his works
were very highly praised. I knew very little of Otto Weininger's
mother; she was quite normal, as well as her . . . one brother and
two sisters, who in all probability are still living. I have, however,
no connection with them. I know nothing of a mental disease in
the family.
Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that Otto Weininger
had a great liking for Norway and its authors, particularly Ibsen
and Hamsun, and that he visited that country. He considered Ibsen
as the greatest author of all time, but that was not my opinion.
Perhaps this information can help a little. In the meantime I
greet you sincerely, and am
Very sincerely yours,
Emil Lucka
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? 206 Appendix
LETTER IX !
Budapest
January, 1939
Dear Doctor:
About all: In our family there was never any insanity or an in-
sane man. My brother Otto was never an epileptic. Clear-seeing
people are many times considered as mentally diseased. Otto was
always healthy, and I lived during my youth with him. In the last
part of his life, however, his body was weakened by the many nights
when he worked by candlelight. His nervous system suffered, as you
can see in his writings (U. L. D. ).
However, on the surface nothing untoward could be noticed.
There was a great sensibility--he was particularly sensitive to loud
and high-pitched voices, but never could a mental defect be de-
tected in his behavior.
I am glad to know that you are in the North.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER X
Budapest
4-26-39
Dear Doctor: <
There was no insanity in our family. My father was of strong
mentality. He had only one brother, who was handsome, charming,
frivolous. He died quite young. My father also had four sisters, but
they were unimportant.
My brother, Richard, is fifty-two years old. He is very handsome
and very gifted, and he is wealthy. He is an Epicurean with a femi-
nine disposition, vain, very hard, and a lady's man. He lives in
America. It is a principle with him not to see his family. When he
was young he caused many difficulties for my father. He is the
sort of man who will always influence everybody. He has a great
sense of beauty. He would walk over your dead body, but he may
also give shelter to a beggar when he is in a good mood and when
he is admired. He definitely is not an ordinary man. The exact op
posite to Otto, but not a happy man. An athlete, polo player, aviator,
etc.
With thanks and love,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
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? Appendix 207
LETTER XI
Budapest
5-10-39
Dear Doctor:
No, Richard, my brother, never committed any criminal act, but
he was unscrupulous and avaricious. He was married twice, to very
wealthy women. He would walk over your dead body if it were to
his advantage. He will show goodness when least expected. He is
hungry for sensation, audience, applause. . . .
Hearty regards,
Rosa Weininger
LETTER XII
Budapest
May 15, 1939
Dear Doctor:
My father looked like Nietzsche.
On my brother's tomb my father placed this inscription: "This
stone marks the resting place of a young man whose spirit found
no peace in this world. When he had delivered the message of his
soul, he could no longer remain among the living. He betook him-
self to the place of death of one of the greatest of all men, the
Schwarzspanierhaus in Vienna, and there destroyed his mortal
body. "
Otto was five feet and eight inches in height. I do not have the
first edition of Vber die letzten Dinge, but I will try to find it. I
have only the second and sixth editions.
Rosa Weininger
LETTER XIII
11. 6. 1939
20 Maresfield Gardens
London N. W. 3
Tel: Hampstead 2002
Dear Colleague:
My delayed answer is due to a week-long illness which has pre-
vented me from writing. I shall gladly answer your questions. Yes,
I am the person who gave Probst this description of Weininger's
personality. Weininger was never my patient, but one of his friends
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? 208 Appendix
was. Through this means Weininger became acquainted with the
views on bisexuality which I had already applied in my analysis,
prompted by Fliess. He constructed his book about this idea. I do
not know the difference between . . . [undecipherable] and his
thesis. In the manuscript Otto Weininger gave me to read there
were no depreciatory words about the Jews and much less criticism
of women. He had also to a large extent given consideration to my
views on hysteria.
I am,
Sincerely yours,
Freud
LETTER XIV
Budapest
6-27-39
Dear Doctor:
I have two letters to thank you for. In answer I wish to inform
you as follows:
(1) Otto showed an interest in social problems, but no more
than other young men. He was a member of the Society for Social
Science.
(2) Our name always was Weininger, and we always were Jews.
(3) My grandparents were from Vienna, as were their parents
also.
(4) My mother was a beautiful and quiet wife. She had seven
children, of whom three died. She was only a housewife and mother
and had a gift for languages. She was overshadowed by the stronger
personality of her husband.
(5) My father was a craftsman in gold, silver, and porcelain. He
created several artistic pieces which have been acquired by Ameri-
cans. He was a great linguist and musician. He was strong in mind
and feeling, in expressions of divine goodness and unflinching sever-
ity, and he was feared by us all.
(6) As a father peerless, never to be equaled, he cared with the
greatest devotion for the lives and souls of his children. Through
him we became familiar with the most sublime beauty in the world
of art. He knew no moderation in his severity and criticism. He
was loved and feared by us all. . . . If we ever told a lie, he would
punish us at once. His demands upon us were enormous; if we did
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? LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD, JUNE 11, 1939
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? 210
Appendix
not live up to them, he was mortally wounded. My father never had
an education. At the age of twenty-two he was a correspondent in
foreign languages in the banking house of Elias. Upon his marriage
at this time, he started his handicraft.
Museums in London, Paris,
and Vienna exhibited a number of his creations. My father was
anti-Semitic although he thought as a Jew.
I am still searching for the first edition of Uber die letzten Dinge.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Weininger
LETTER XV
6-24-39
Dear Doctor:
The letter which was returned to you unopened came to me
today. The address was illegible. I owe you an answer, as I now
see I had forgotten to answer you previously.
(1) The frivolity of my paternal uncle consisted in deserting his
wife and two small children without any further care of the chil-
dren. My father never forgave him for this, and when my uncle
was lying on his deathbed at the age of forty, my father refused
his request to come and see him. But my father raised my uncle's
children and made them two good men, who up to this time have
lived in Vienna but now have fled to America.
(2) My uncle deserted his family for another woman who lived
in common-law relation with him. I did not know of any other
frivolity.
(3) No, Otto was not happy. A peculiar fellow? No, I do not
believe so. But he was a very hard worker. During nights, many
nights, most nights, he worked by the light of a small candle, and
beside him was a glass of milk which in the evening I brought to
his bare room. Certainly his mind was overworked, his body tired;
but remember, he was only twenty-two when he created his work.
Yours,
Rosa Boschan Weiningeb
LETTER XVI
6-29-39
Dear Doctor:
My paternal uncle was the youngest of five children. He died at
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? Appendix 211
the age of forty. He was a businessman, arid he was charming and
handsome.
There were no conflicts in my uncle's house. He deserted his wife
and children suddenly, without seeing them again.
My maternal aunts were orderly persons who died at an early
age. A maternal uncle had a miserable existence. I myself knew
only one aunt, who was a singer. About the one brother, I hear
that he was not honest.
I had thousands of letters from my father, who wrote me every
day, often three times a day.
Many thanks,
Rosa B. Weintnger
LETTER XVII
Zermatt
Dear Doctor:
(1) Otto was the second child. The first was Helene and she
died at the age of three of diphtheria. The second boy was Franz,
and he died at the age of fifteen as the result of an appendicitis
attack.
(2) My paternal uncle was thirty years old when he deserted his
wife. >
(3) His name was Friedrich.
(4) He died of pneumonia.
(5) Mathilde and Karoline are both my sisters. Karoline is the
youngest. She is forty years old and the most talented of us girls,
particularly philologically. I am now staying with her.
(6) The creations of which Otto spoke on the postcard sent to
me were pieces of poetry which I had written as a girl and which
he published in a Vienna periodical.
(7) The photo of my mother I sent to you four weeks ago, but
it seems that it has been lost and I will send you another when I
return home.
Yours,
Rosa B. Weintnger
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? 212
Appendix
LETTER XVIII
Dear Doctor:
Otto moved from home in 1901. 1 myself rented a room for him.
He changed rooms often. The reason for his moving was that there
were many children at home. Otto did not get the quiet he liked,
and his irregular life--the nights during which he worked--an-
noyed my father, and he advised Otto to find a room for himself.
Yours,
Rosa B. Weininger
LETTER XIX
Vienna
7-21-39
Dear Doctor:
Miss Meyer was a quite indifferent person, and Otto did not
know her. She was only an acquaintance of mine. She wanted to
know Otto.
Yours,
Rosa B. Weininger
LETTER XX
Budapest
7-27-39
Dear Doctor:
Miss Meyer asked me often to introduce her to Otto, but the
matter was not of much importance. At last she spent one hour
with him, and she wrote me, "I have been with Jesus Christ. " (I
still have the postcard. )
I do not know where this Miss Meyer is now.
Yours,
Rosa B. Weininger
<
LETTER XXI
Rena, Norway
7-29-39
Dear Doctor:
Knut Hamsun asked to be excused for his delay in replying to
your letter. If he had received a letter or greeting from Weininger,
Hamsun would have remembered it; but it did not happen. Hamsun
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? Appendix 213
has only--more than once--read his work, Sex and Character, and
each time he became annoyed at|Gjellerup's childish and superior
attitude.
Respectfully yours,
Kntjt Hamsun
[per] MH
LETTER XXII
Nerholz
8-11-39
Doctor David Abrahamsen:\
Hamsun regrets he has no remembrance of Weininger's visiting
him at this time.
Respectfully yours,
Maria Hamsun
LETTER XXIII
Budapest, January 24, 1940
My very dear Doctor:
. . . I sent you an enlargement of a portrait of my mother; it is,
regrettably, the only one I have. This picture shows my mother at
the time just after she had given birth to Otto. . . .
My mother was slim, delicate, small, a warm human being, a
thinking individual, a beautiful woman with beautiful hair--dark
hair, which even at her death was not gray. She was not egocentric;
she was a good mother, a good woman.
But in spite of all this the married life of my parents was not
peaceful. That was due to my father's strong personality, his sharp
criticism, and his great demands upon his family. We children let
Mother spoil us, we confided in her, but to us Father was the su-
preme judge.
Today, as a mature woman, I judge my parents' life in quite a
different light. I think that because of her many children, because
of her wonderful but difficult husband, my mother had a hard task
which she could manage only with the greatest mental and physical
difficulty. She was ill and suffered for years from bronchio-catarrh.
I am certain of one thing: with an average, ordinary husband, my
mother would undoubtedly have been a happy wife.
My father had, for Puritanical reasons, never deceived my mother;
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? 214 Appendix
Father and Mother lived a very erotic life. He loved her dearly as
a woman and she loved him, only him. But there were storms in
their life which darkened our youth.
Yours,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER XXIV
Bayreuth
August 20, 1902
Dear Rosa:
In the excitement of hearing The Flying Dutchman I could have
kissed both you and Richard had you been here. . . . Of course,
I have heard the Flying Dutchman played many times, but I have
never before experienced the toneful effects I heard today. It was
quite indescribable. I felt quite drunk when I left the Playhouse
(Festspielhaus), and only the worldly glitter of the dressed-up crowd
leaving the theater made me unfortunately, painfully sober. When
The Dutchman affects me in this way, what would I not feel listen-
ing to Parsifal, the playing of which I heard on the train (What a
prosaic place! ) without any prospect of ever reaching a complete
understanding of this wonderful masterpiece. . . . To me Richard
Wagner will always be, above everyone else, the great tone poet!
How shall I enjoy Parsifal after hearing it only one time and with-
out any theoretical musical preparation? I would be very happy
if I could enjoy this as I did when I for the first time, thirty years
ago, heard Meistersinger, and twenty-seven years ago heard Tristan
in Munich.
I received your letter of yesterday, dear Rosa. No, I was" not
annoyed to hear that Otto had enjoyed Parsifal before I had. I
have from your earliest years educated you so that you should learn
only that which was beautiful and noble, and I acknowledge with
pleasure that Otto is an aesthetic human being. I heard very much
about his travels, which have filled me with satisfaction. But he
should have obeyed me in all things! I did not demand from you
blind obedience; seeing the facts yourself, you should have listened
to me, Otto particularly. I am afraid for his material future.
I will keep this letter until this evening. It is three o'clock in the
afternoon, and at four o'clock Parsifal begins; it will close at a
quarter to eleven.
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? Appendix 215
This is after Parsifal. If perhaps I wrote a little too much of
The Dutchman, I am now so overwhelmed I can hardly say a word.
I have been thrilled by the countless grandiose beauties of the
music and the performance of every single artist. In the first and
third acts there are long, wonderful passages. I have the feeling of
being a cheat to be part of a modern audience, sitting in a comfort-
able seat and letting others play for me, when the only thing one
should do is kneel down. . . . I go to bed, but for me that does
not mean to sleep. . . .
Your Father
CONDEMNATION
The artist always loves himself; the philosopher hates himself.
A glorious love is created in the artist by the least sign of love and
respect, while the philosopher as such is never loved. But when one
is misjudged and still loved, then one becomes hard, hard until
one is compassionate with oneself! All this self-examination is a
phenomenon typical of the self-hater.
That is the worst: not being able to love when one is loved and
knows one is loved, with hatred toward that bitter feeling of a de-
sire to love deep down in the heart. This petrifaction, this barren-
ness! An olive tree on the hardest granite! My soul cannot free
itself and enter into that of another who loves me!
The terrible existence of the Ego! It is true: an artist is congratu-
lated on his birthday, but a philosopher is condoled. The man who
fears to hear his name--how can he be happy in his existence?
If you say: "I love you"--then I have the thought: How little
you know me! Do you love me? Does anybody love me?
A philosopher: A house where the shutters are forever closed.
The sun may shine upon the house and perhaps heat it, but the
house does not open. Angry, sullen, bitter, it refuses the light. What
does it look like in the house? A wild, desperate activity, a slow,
terrifying realization in the dark, an eternal clearing out of things--
inside! Do not ask how it looks inside the house--but the light
shines on, and, amazed, it knocks on the door over and over again.
Yet the windows close ever tighter from within.
Orro Weiningeb
April 3, 1902
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? Index
Aberrant mentality in members of
Weininger family, 25
Abnormal and normal mind, problem
of distinguishing between, 152, 164
Abraham, Karl, 165
Aesthetic disguise, 191
Alexander the Great, 119
Alliteration, 173
Ambivalence, 21-22, 85, 175, 181,
187
Ambulatory schizophrenia, 192
Anal-eroticism, 175
Anal-sadistic traits, 17;
Animals, W's writings about, 169,
182; see also Dog
Anticipations preceding scientific con-
cepts, 112
Antimetaphysicist, W. an extreme, 4;
Antinomic traits, 79
Anti-Semitism, growth of, and political
influence, 28, 34 f. ; Hitler's hostil-
ity, 29; directed against Freud, 34;
Leopold Weininger's, 57; W's anti-
Semitic views, 57, 120 f. , 122, 132,
183 f. ; why he sought to deny Ju-
daism, 184; Unconscious root of,
184
Aphorisms, 69, 80, 81, 129, 160, 169,
174, 179, 182, 183 ff.
Appel, Wilhelm von, 121; quoted, 163
Archaic thinking, 169
Ascetic, defined, 129
Asceticism, 128 ff. , 177
Austria, political and economic condi-
tions, 27 ff.
Authors, 29, 31 f.